Wednesday, Jan 02, 2008

US military deaths in Iraq fell in December to the lowest monthly total in almost four years, and estimates of civilian deaths also showed a sharp decline.

However, 28 people were reported killed in a suicide bombing in east Baghdad yesterday, underscoring that the violence continues.

Twenty-two US troops were reported killed in December, the lowest total since February 2004 and the second-lowest monthly toll of the war. A British soldier also died as the result of an accident. In contrast, the US military reported 112 fatalities in December 2006.

The independent Iraq Body Count, a website that tallies press reports of civilian deaths, logged 902 Iraqi fatalities in December, compared with more than 2,500 for each of July and August.

Government ministries noted 481 civilian deaths, compared with 1,930 in December 2006.

In a sign of increased public confidence, residents of several Baghdad districts danced in the streets and set off fireworks to mark the new year in midnight celebrations that would have been difficult to imagine in the fear-racked capital of a year ago.

US and Iraqi officials credit the decline in violence to the "surge" of US troops, as well as Sunni Arab rejection of the radical al-Qaeda movement and a ceasefire called by Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shia cleric.

Troop numbers in Iraq, however, are already beginning to come down, and Iraqi politicians have yet to reach agreements on key issues that divide the country's ethnic and sectarian blocs.

Senior US commander General David Petraeus warned on Saturday that progress was "tenuous in many areas and could be reversed".

Despite the decline in violence in its second half, the first six months of 2007 were deadly for US troops and Iraqi civilians. With about 900 deaths reported, 2007 was the bloodiest year of the war for the US military.

Radical insurgent groups that target civilians, although reportedly damaged, are still active. A suicide bomber set off an explosive vest at a Shia funeral in east Baghdad yesterday, Iraqi police said. At least 28 people were reported killed.

By STEVE NEGUS